


Once More With Feeling

by redluna



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst and Feels, M/M, Victory Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:09:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29315370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redluna/pseuds/redluna
Summary: Perhaps Dorian should have attempted to form the same excuses. It was either that or try to see if the reserves of alcohol were truly as endless as Josephine had claimed. Anything that could allow him to ignore what had no doubt been the biggest of mistakes he had made in the south so far.
Relationships: Dorian Pavus/Cullen Rutherford
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Once More With Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> Written from a "50 Reasons to Have Sex" with the prompt being "‘end of the world/the world is in chaos’ sex, I can’t believe we survived’". To the surprise of probably no one but myself, Dorian managed to make things far more angsty than expected.
> 
> (Bonus note? I can't believe that "Victory Sex" is not an actual A03 tag, but rather one I had to add in.)

The fact of the matter was that Dorian was no fool. Or, no, perhaps that wasn’t such a safe assertion to make at present. It seemed difficult to believe now, after all, that there should have ever have come a moment where he had doubted that their fearless leader could get the job done. Not with how everyone was all but hoisting the poor girl up onto their shoulders right there in the main hall, only moderately deterred by her protestations of lingering injuries.

(Facing down a darkspawn magister would do that to a person.)

Perhaps Dorian should have attempted to form the same excuses. It was either that or try to see if the reserves of alcohol were truly as endless as Josephine had claimed. Anything that could allow him to ignore what had no doubt been the biggest of mistakes he had made in the south so far.

But, of course, it wasn’t as though Cullen had ever had a care for the expectations of others.

“Didn’t think I’d find you all on your own,” was the opener, as if the mans’ eyes weren’t glinting in the low light from just that.

“Ah, well, perhaps my pariah status hasn’t quite worn off after all.” Except that had Cullen’s eyebrows lifting, which could only make Dorian sigh. Someone had to keep the man from making a scene over trying to defend what little honor that Dorian can still lay claim to. “Aren’t you the one always expounding upon the good of a bit of quiet?”

It’s the wrong—or perhaps right, depending—thing to say if the way Cullen all but folds in on himself, face crumpling, is any guess. An ideal opening to send him off, knowing there wouldn’t so much as a whisper of reprimand issued to pressure him with. Even if it was, without a doubt, one of the last times they would be allowed to have this. 

Too bad that, while Dorian would like to think that his time within the Inquisition has changed him, he’s still a selfish man at heart. 

“So, if your tower is out of the question, I do still have some designs on that one alcove in the library.” Dorian wound up chuckling despite himself at how quick Cullen was to blush, even know. “Oh, don’t be like that! There’s unlikely to be anyone there, given the state of things.”

Cullen didn’t bite, though, which was expected but still somewhat disappointing. It would be one thing to have this occur in a fashion that, while exciting, was still grounded in that brush of familiarity.

There’s none of that in how Cullen prefers things. 

Before Dorian would have thought it about privacy, another way to keep things— _ people _ —hidden away. Except that didn’t connect to the way Cullen liked to arrange him with care on the bed, pushing and pressing until he can break through even Dorian’s enforced limits on volume.

All of which Dorian might still have found a way to manage if it weren’t for how Cullen tended to  _ look _ at him. It would begin even before things had kicked off in earnest; something Dorian almost preferred because it was easier to twist away and ignore then when Cullen had one of his legs hooked up over his shoulder and another around his waist.

All that tenderness had no place in a romp like this. The revenant touches were one thing, if only because it was by no means an act of pride to call himself gorgeous (he put too much work in for it not to be the case). But Cullen always looked at him with a gaze full of emotions that neither of them had yet dared to say out loud. And that was difficult enough to handle on a good day, let alone one with as many strings attached as this one.

For anyone else, that would have been the sign to slow down and talk things through. But Dorian was alright with stealing one kiss after another, even as the afterglow began to fade.

So, it was truly beyond the pale for Cullen to bring out his unfailing rationality now, of all times.

“Dorian, wait a…” It was difficult to manage the proper pout when Cullen insisted on laughing, warm and deep, while pinning his arms at his sides. “As flattering as your assumptions are, I assure you I’ll need a moment or two before we go again.”

“Should I leave then?” The wong play to make when all it took was an added squeeze to his arms for Dorian to have an answer. “You don’t think we’ll be missed?” he tried instead.

“The rest have more than enough to entertain themselves with.” There was a breath of hesitation before Cullen loosened a hand to brush it over the curve of Dorian’s cheek. “I’d rather stay here with the one I know I’ll miss most.”

Oh, that simply wasn’t fair.

“You don’t have to return the sentiment,” Cullen was rambling on, “but I at least want you to know it before you go.”

By the Maker, Dorian absolutely needed to cut in here. “What? That I’m your favorite Teinvter?” The hard set to Cullen’s growing frown made his breath catch in his throat, but he needed to press on. “Certainly not mage or our Inquisitor would be crushed.”

“This isn’t something to make light of,” Cullen bit back. 

Dorian would actually be somewhat afraid of the harsh tension in the other man’s frame, if Cullen hadn’t trained him out of him so long ago now. As it was, the greater difficulty turned out in controlling the way his body wanted to shake for an entirely different reason. 

“Well what  _ should _ I make of it?” he had to demand. “Particularly when it’s coming from a man who won’t be following me to—”

Oh Maker above, would Dorian  _ never _ learn to control his mouth around this man?

It would have been one thing if Cullen had risen to a rage. But, of course, he had to go for the worst possible outcome instead, face crumpling all at once with an emotion that threatened to tear Dorian’s heart free from his chest.

“Oh,  _ fasta vass _ , that’s not—”

It was Cullen that cut him off now rather than his own teeth against the inside of his mouth. “Don’t lie, Dorian,” was the quick, near bitter murmur. “Not for my sake.”

“Then what should I do?” Dorian pressed, unable to keep his mouth from shaping those familiar words all over again. “Pretend that all will somehow be well?”

“Each of us have faced greater obstacles before and come out on top.” Cullen stilled whatever clever retort to that was on the tip of Dorian’s tongue as his palm came to rest against the other man’s cheek. “Let’s just make the most of what time we have.”

“I suppose you’ll expect that sappiest of letters afterwards.” This might not have been what Dorian’s tutors had in mind when instilling countless lectures on court etiquette, but if it kept his voice from growing too constricted he could barely find it in himself to care. “Ferelden heathen that you are.”

At least Cullen was smiling again. “I fully expect you to scandalize your servants,  _ altus _ ,” he quipped back.

It was something that would have been easier, as so many things were this man, if either of them could still come close to lying to one another.

**Author's Note:**

> Then the Trespasser DLC happens, which triggers an awkward reunion where they dance around one another until the Inquisitor locks them in a room somewhere because she's been tearing her own hair out over them.


End file.
